Government scraps National Standards

The Government has scrapped National Standards, meaning schools will no longer be required to use the reporting system from 2018.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said parents and teachers had lost confidence in the "narrow policy" that he called "nothing more than a compliance exercise".

National Standards were introduced by the National Government in 2010, aimed at informing parents about how well their child was doing in reading, writing and maths compared to their peers.

Mr Hipkins said the policy turned out to be a "major distraction to schools".

He said from 2018 parents would receive reports in plain English that related to their child's progress, rather than them being judged against others.

"Parents will still receive reports at least twice a year on their child's progress and achievement in maths, reading and writing as well as across the curriculum areas. But this reporting will focus on children's progress, rather than measuring them against arbitrary National Standards," he said.

National's education spokesperson Nikki Kaye previously said scrapping National Standards would be "one of the most significant education decisions to be made in several years".

"The education sector and parents deserve to know the timeline, the process of engagement and have iron-cast guarantees around the replacement system and reporting to parents," she said.

National Party education spokesperson Nikki Kaye said the Minister should have worked with the Opposition and parents on how children's learning progress would be measured.

She said Mr Hipkins had made the decision in "an arrogant way", without consulting with people "to make sure there's something to replace it with".

Ms Kaye thinks there will be "en masse confusion" when schools start next year.

"We're going to be, I think, a little bit embarrassed internationally, because we're not going to have a nationwide view of what's happening around achievement that's acknowledged by the Treasury.